Creative Nonfiction - Fall 2017

Consortium for Science

Policy & Outcomes,

School for the Future of

Innovation in Society and

the Hugh Downs School of

Human Communication at

This publication is funded by Pennsylvania

Partners in the Arts, a program of the

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts,

administered in Allegheny County by the

Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.

This project is supported in part by an award

from the National Endowment for the Arts

THIS ISSUE OF
CREATIVE NONFICTION
WAS MADE POSSIBLE
BY SUPPORT FROM:
we choose is a constitutional right that is cherished and sacred, though at the
same time, often a source of tension and isolation. But the intersections of those
two ways of understanding the world are rarely examined—and when they are,
the primary narrative is one of conflict. As my colleague, Dan Sarewitz, a policy
scholar, explains:

People come to know the world in part through stories, and many people know the story

of Galileo being tossed into prison by the pope, or John Scopes going on trial in Ten-

nessee for teaching evolution—not to mention Adam and Eve being kicked out of Eden

simply for the sin of seeking knowledge. But stories are especially good at making sense

of the ambiguities and contradictions of the human condition. So where and what are

the stories that can communicate a more complex and even fruitful relationship between

science and religion?

Generating such stories was the goal of this iteration of TWP, which was gener-
ously funded by the John Templeton Foundation. We offered fifteen two-year
fellowships providing support—a series of free craft workshops and individual
mentoring, plus opportunities to meet editors from some of the most thoughtful
magazines in the country—for anyone with an important true story about the
harmonies between science and religion. Many of those fellows’ essays will be
published in journals and magazines over the next year, and others have inspired
programming in science museums across the country.
The Templeton Foundation also provided generous prize money and support
for an international essay contest, the winners of which are featured in this issue.
Rachel Wilkinson’s engaging “Search History,” winner of the $10,000 best
essay prize, explores the intersection of the Internet and our human questioning
impulse. “[The Internet] is superhuman, beyond any one of us and inaccessible in
its entirety,” Wilkinson observes. “Like an oracle, Google can access and interpret
the world beyond, though it is still essentially of this one.”
Other essays explore intersections of Mormonism and astronomy, Judaism and
physics, and grief as the ultimate proving ground for both science and religion.
Somewhat unusually for a literary magazine of this size, we were also able to
commission work for this issue. We sent Dinty W. Moore on a post-election
tour through southern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia to see
how science and religion coexist in everyday life for “ordinary Americans.” And
William Wan, recently appointed the Washington Post’s science correspondent (and
formerly its religion correspondent), reflects on his seemingly unlikely career path
and discovers room for awe in both fields.
Some of these essays are being published simultaneously here and in Issues in
Science and Technology, which doesn’t often feature narratives. And, to me, the joint
publication of the same essays in two entirely different publications with very
different readerships is in many ways the most important and exciting part of the
project. I hope and believe that these complex and nuanced true stories reveal
something new and might inspire you to see the world in a different way. And,
above all, I hope the work in this issue will expand awareness and appreciation of
the vital roles of both science and religion—no matter where or how (or whether)
you worship and what you believe or don’t believe.

What’s the Story? Continued